Parker case colors

[Keavin Nelson]

Originally Posted by John Bastiani

I wish there was nobody that could replicate Parker colors as it has led to some guns being sold as original cased guns when they are not. I had a buddy who bought what was advertised as an original BHE(80 to 85% case) from a known dealer. When he got ready to sell the gun 30 years later he found that the gun had been recased. It was almost impossible to tell from some originals we looked at. He ended up showing the gun to some guys from the Parker Collectors display at a show a few years ago at OGCA(I believe) and they informed him that the gun had been re-cased. It was a around a 1915 gun from what I remember and had a weep hole which it shouldn't have had for that era. I believe thats how the gentleman determined the gun had been redone. Also: Mr. Turnbull does excellent work and is honest in letting people know if he has redone a gun.

I am not sure "weep" holes indicate that it had been re-cased. Barrels are often redone when nothing else is for any number of reasons. And it is easier to redo barrels than recase a gun. I wasn't inferring that Turnbull doesn't do good work, only that I have had folks question how close his colors are to original (which they will never be).

[Reggie B]

Why would a weep hole indicate case colors had been re-done? Or did they think since the barrels had been re-finished the entire gun had likely been? These old guns have for the most part all been worked on to some extent. A lot of them are sold as "originals" but that really depends on how a person defines that word. My advice is don't buy them as investments, buy them because you love them despite what may or may not have been done to them in the last 100 years.

Having said that, I do like to find them as close to "original" as possible.

[Dean Romig]

Reggie - Redone barrels will often cause the whole gun to require very close examination.

Collect them because we love them and admire them yes, but nobody wants to get duped at the time of purchase only to find out years later that they have no hope of ever selling the gun at even close to the purchase price. We're all well aware that the market in these guns has taken a temporary (hopeful) dip but to be taken to the cleaner by an unscrupulous seller is just pretty darn hard to deal with.





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[Reggie B]

Oh I agree totally when a seller misrepresents a gun.

[Bruce Day]

You get a dent in the barrel , raise the dent and you may have to reblue the barrels. Get some blood on the barrels, then rust , same thing.

Some people just have to see shiny blue black barrels.

Look for wear on the standing breach face. Look for sharp engraving . Worn checkering. Even I can do that !

[B. Dudley]

If you see enough original guns, you just know what to look for.
And there are plenty of very good examples of high condition guns documented in the various writings/books about Parkers. If those are studied, one will learn all they need to know and what to look for.

[Big D]

I took a very high condition AHE to Brad B, and as he looked at the gun, he called the man who did his barrrel refinishing out to look at the gun, and said "This is what an original gun looks like. That's what we're trying to recreate on the barrels"

[Stan Hillis]

If I get duped by someone representing a gun as original, when it is not, I get mad at one person and only one. Me, for not educating myself enough before I dropped the big bucks.

A lying dealer is one thing. A dealer who doesn't know originality any better than me is another.

Caveat emptor.

SRH

[Dean Romig]

Yup Stan, you nailed it!





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[Alfred Greeson]

Bruce, always great to see your "ole stuff", thanks for sharing.